


Hocus Pocus, or Merlin's solution to all curses

by Sarachan89



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic, At least in Arthur's opinion, Gen, Magic, Merlin should not be allowed to modify magic rituals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 09:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13232433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarachan89/pseuds/Sarachan89
Summary: Arthur was having a good day, then he entered his chambers and found his manservant standing there with a smug look.He should have turned back before Merlin saw him...





	Hocus Pocus, or Merlin's solution to all curses

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year!

Arthur was having a good day.  
  
He spent the morning with Guinevere, the council meeting was short and no one complained too much, and, strangely, no one had attacked Camelot in quite a long time.  
  
He even managed to avoid George, who had already tried to corner him twice probably to tell him a joke about brass.  
  
Definitely a good day.

 

So, you see, when he entered his chambers, only to find his manservant standing there with a smug look on his face, the smile that had been gracing Arthur’s face froze quite quickly and he found himself thinking that maybe he should have listened to his wife and joined his knight during their training.  
  
Nevertheless, instead of turning back and avoiding the problem, Arthur took a deep breath, counted to ten, pointed to the floor, and asked “Merlin, what is that thing on the floor?”  
  
“A magic circle.” Replied his manservant giving him a look that clearly stated, “Did you really think it would be something else, dollop head?”  
  
Arthur counted to ten again before replying.  
  
“And what is it doing on the floor of my bedroom?”  
  
“Well, I couldn’t draw it on the wall, obviously,” said the warlock.  
  
Arthur took another deep breath, thinking that Gwen might be upset if he killed his manservant.  
  
“Why?” The king asked with a suffering look.  
  
“Because it would be a bit difficult to stand on it if it was on the wall.” Answered Merlin with a tone that could be roughly translated with “You are being particularly dense today, Arthur.”  
  
“I meant why did you draw a magic circle?” Said Arthur, in a tone that clearly implied a “You idiot” somewhere in the sentence. He felt very proud about his ability to imply insults like his manservant.  
  
Merlin, of course, didn’t even bother to fake being affected by the insult and replied “Oh, that!” before smiling smugly and adding, “It’s for a ritual.”  
  
It was in moments like this that Arthur wondered if Merlin was meant to be some sort of retribution for all the pain he caused to magic users in the past.  
  
“I’m not sure I want to know the details, Merlin.”  
  
“When you change your mind let me know and I’ll tell you.” Replied the warlock, with that smug smile firmly plastered on his face.  
  
Arthur forced himself to take another deep breath, then another one, and another, and another then his eyes fell on the empty cup on the table and he couldn’t help himself. He threw the cup. At Merlin.  
  
Unfortunately, Merlin’s reflexes had gotten better over the years and he sidestepped the cup without much effort.  
  
“Tell me. Now.” Growled the king.  
  
“There’s no need to become violent,” said Merlin before adding, “It’s a ritual to end the curse.”  
  
To be honest, if someone asked Arthur, the answer was unexpected. After all, no one had tried to wreak havoc in Camelot for a while, so the words were out of his mouth before he even realized it.  
  
“What curse? Is someone attacking us?”  
  
“Doesn’t matter which one, there is always some curse and no, no one is attacking, yet.” Replied the warlock stressing the last word.  
  
“And why is the circle in my room?” Asked Arthur, deciding to focus on the matter at hand.  
  
“Because you are the favorite target of every mad man – and woman – out there.” Replied Merlin.  
  
“So this thing is supposed to break whatever curse is cast on me.”  
  
“Now you are being dense on purpose sire. Yes, this is supposed to break any curse successfully cast on you or on anyone else, as a matter of fact.” Said the king’s manservant before adding, in a hopeful tone “Do you want to try it out?”  
  
Arthur had to admit that the idea itself wasn’t that bad, even if he was never going to admit it aloud. He couldn’t afford to fuel Merlin’s ego. It was bad enough as it was, so he settled for a simple “Do I have to?”  
  
“Well, I just spent my all day preparing this when I could have being doing a lot of others things, like sleeping.”  
  
“Or you could have done your chores.”  
  
“That would have been boring.”  
  
“Idiot.”  
  
“Prat. Anyway, do you want to try it out?”  
  
Somehow, Arthur had the feeling Merlin would not give up easily.  
  
“Alright.” Said Arthur, albeit reluctantly.  
  
“Ok, then get in the circle.” Said Merlin, with a smile that lit up the entire room and almost blinded Arthur.  
  
“And then you start the ritual?”  
  
“No, you are the one that has to activate the circle.”  
  
Arthur was confused. If you asked Merlin that happened a lot, still being told that you should be the one to activate a magic circle didn’t exactly happen every day, which prompted the king’s question.  
  
“What?”  
  
“You heard me.” Replied the warlock.  
  
“What do I do?” Said Arthur with a resigned expression.  
  
“You have to say Hocus Pocus.” Replied Merlin as if the answer should have been obvious.  
  
“Pardon?”  
  
“You just say Hocus Pocus.” Repeated Merlin, this time with a look clearly saying “And you call me an idiot?”  
  
“Shouldn’t there be a lot of magic words and thing like that?” Said Arthur, clearly perplexed.  
  
“Are you an expert on magic now?” Said Merlin, giving Arthur his best impression of Gaius’ I-know-better-than-you look, complete with a raised eyebrow.  
  
“Are you?” Replied the king with the same expression, which he had perfected along the years.  
  
Merlin relented and said, “Alright, there was a lot of words to say but it was a waste of time so I modified the ritual a little.”  
  
“Merlin…” Started saying Arthur, raising the eyebrow he had just lowered.  
  
Seeing the king’s expression, the warlock hurried to reassure him.  
  
“It’s safe. Don’t worry, I tested it.”  
  
“What did you test it on?”  
  
“Not what. Who. I tested it on Gwaine.”  
  
“Gwaine?”  
  
“Yes, Gwaine.”  
  
Arthur tried, and failed, to remember if he had seen Gwaine at any time that day.  
  
“Are you sure Gwaine is fine?” The king inquired, not truly interested in Gwaine’s wellbeing as much as his own.  
  
“Perfectly fine. Well, as fine as Gwaine can be anyway.”  
  
Arthur sighed.  
  
“Alright, let’s do this. Hocus Pocus.”  
  
The room was filled with a bright light for an instant and when it faded Merlin immediately smiled.  
  
“It worked!”  
  
“Merlin.”  
  
Arthur was not smiling. At all.  
  
“Yes Arthur?” Said Merlin without a care in the world.  
  
Arthur clenched his fists and glared at the warlock.  
  
“I’m green.”  
  
Merlin shrugged and said, “At least you don’t sparkle like Gwaine did.”  
  
“You said he was fine!” Yelled the king.  
  
“Obviously I meant that he is fine now. The colour faded in a few hours.” Said the warlock, struggling not to laugh.  
  
“I’m going to kill you!” Roared Arthur.  
  
“Oh, yes! Let’s kill poor Merlin! The ritual worked just fine! I was doing something nice for you so you would be able to feel independent and would not need my help again to break a curse on you and you want to kill me. You are a prat.” Replied the manservant inching closer to the door with every word.  
  
“Are you quite finished?” Said Arthur with no patience left.  
  
“I can think of something else to say if you want.” Said Merlin challengingly.  
  
“No. I think you should start running now.” Replied Arthur, a bloodthirsty look on his face.  
  
Merlin, with one foot already outside of the room, gave Arthur the same smug smile he had when the king had first entered his rooms that afternoon and said, “I don’t see why I should. It will be at least a few hours before the colour fades and I doubt you want to be seen like this. I’ll just walk. Bye!”  
  
“MERLIN!”


End file.
